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when we have seen it licking the very dirt of the knacker's yard for hunger! or, in the extremity of famine, chewing, like hay, the hairs of the manes and tails of its companions in misery! Words cannot describe the groans which are uttered when the pains of some incurable disease are superadded to the torments of starvation !-Yet it is not dumb show. Still there is a language-it is the language of human speech-but, nevertheless, it is sufficiently intelligible to every human being whose heart is not steeled by avarice and self-interest. In order to form a strictly true conception of a knacker's yard, it must be seen; and no one, we are assured, will return from the spot without firmly resolving to further the object of attaining positive and efficient legislative reformation.

"Another abuse exists, not less frequent, but much more shocking, because committed under the deliberate calculation of intolerable avarice. I allude to the practice of buying up horses when past their strength, from old age or disease, upon the computation (I mean to speak literally) of how many days of torture and oppression they are capable of living under, so as to return a profit with the addition of the flesh and skin, when brought to one of the numerous houses appropriated for the slaughtering of horses. It is most notorious, that with the value of such animals all care of them is generally at an end, and you see them (I speak literally, and of a systematic abuse), sinking and dying under loads which no man living would have set the same horse to when in the meridian of his strength and youth. This horrid abuse, which appears at first view to be incapable of aggravation, is, nevertheless, most shockingly aggravated when the period arrives at which one would think cruelty must necessarily cease-when exhausted nature is ready to bestow the deliverance of death! But even then a new and most atrocious system of torture commences, of which I could myself be a witness in your committee, as it was proved to my own perfect satisfaction, and that of my friend Mr. Jeckyll, upon the information of a worthy magistrate, who called our attention to the abuse. A very general practice exists of buying up horses still alive, but not capable of being even further abused by any kind of labour. These horses are taken in great numbers to slaughter-houses, not to be killed at once for their flesh and skins-but left without sustenance, and literally starved to death, that the market may be gradually fed! the poor animals in the meantime being frequently reduced to gnaw one another's manes in the agonies of hunger."

ART. XXVII.-Coins of the Romans relating to Britain, described and illustrated. By JOHN YONGE AKERMAN, F.S. A. London: Wilson, Jun. 1836.

THERE is, certainly, an increasing taste for Numismatic Studies in this country, which this modestly put forth, but talented, and interesting little volume before us, cannot fail to cherish and enlarge. Numismatic science forms one of the surest and most important foundations for the historian's researches; and the value of the discoveries which have been made in this department is at once apparent, from any account of the Roman coins, in whatever country they have been found. To persons who have never been led to turn their attention to this subject, Mr. Akerman's work will be a treat, both interesting and calculated to excite similar inquiries.

THE

MONTHLY REVIEW.

JUNE, 1836.

ART. I.-Narrative of a Journey from Lima to Pera, across the Andes and down the Amazon. By Lieutenant W. SMYTH and Mr. F. LowE, late of his H.M.S. Samarang. London: Murray. 1836. THE present volume furnishes a striking instance of a love for adventure, and also a willingness and desire to encounter great toils and dangers for the benefit of mankind. It is true that the chief object of the expedition was not realized, owing to the desertion of the escort and muleteers engaged to conduct and help forward the travellers, at the very moment when they thought they had surmounted their chief difficulties. Still the book contains a great deal of valuable information regarding an almost unknown country; which, if followed up by future exertions and discoveries, may be turned to boundless commercial advantage. We might halt with the writers at numerous places, where such productions and resources are described as having been observed, as might satisfy any reader of the riches of Peru being unexaggerated in fable, and which, when connected with some of the most majestic rivers of our globe, may, at some future day, be made to circulate in the freest nanner, and upon the noblest scale. But a few notices regarding some of the features of the country they traversed, and the various inhabitants met with, must suffice, after, merely in way of criticism, stating that the whole narrative is plain, sensible, and interesting.

Our travellers left Liina in September, 1834, and in crossing the Andes, paid a visit to Cerro Pasco, the district which contains the principal silver mines belonging to Peru. This place is situated 14,278 feet above the level of the sea, and, together with the surrounding scenery, is described as being sublime in the highest degree, suggesting the words of Campbell most forcibly

"Where Andes, giant of the western star,

Looks, from his throne of clouds, o'er half the world."

The account of the discovery of silver in this district, is something like the story told of the discovery of the Potosi mine. It is said VOL. II. (1836) Nɔ. 11.

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that a shepherd who was attending his flocks upon the Cerro, made a fire at night, and in the morning found that several small pieces of silver had, by its action, been run together. The silver is found in grains, mixed with the earth of the surface; and, when it is in a considerable quantity, an excavation is made; but it is seldom found in that neighbourhood, in solid veins, or pieces of any large size. There are very peculiar privileges enjoyed, according to the old Spanish mining laws, by the discovery of a vein of silver; which laws are still in existence in Peru. For instance, any person is at liberty to open a new mine in any place, or on any other man's propertynot even excepting the site of a church-provided he gives security to work the mine; and if he borrow money from different persons for this purpose, the last lender has a claim to be paid first. These laws have been framed, of course, for the encouragement of the working of mines, although they must certainly lead to much fraud.

Cerro Pasco is divided into three districts, each having its church and priest. The population fluctuates according to the state of the mines; the average number amounting to from 12,000 to 16,000 souls. But even the form of the town is subject to constant variation, owing to the mud cottages being hastily erected near any new mine that is opened. The mouths of the mines are frequently in the middle of the streets, and sometimes enclosed in the courts and yards of houses. The following contains part of an account of a visit to these subterranean treasures:

66

The Canones, or passages, are seldom more than five feet in height, and in some places do not exceed three, and they follow the direction of the metal; these passages are, when the earth is loose, propped up with spars, and in some places with stone, to prevent their falling in. We observed a variety of colours in the different soils; bright blue, green, and yellow-the richest that was pointed out to us was of a colour like Roman ochre, and very soft; in other places it was a solid rock, in which the particles of ore sparkled from the light of our candles. The miners determine the limits of their property by compass and measurement, and that to such nicety, that there is seldom a dispute about a single yard.

"In some places in which they were at work we saw quantities of what is termed by the miners' bronce' (iron pyrites), and copper ore; the former is most abundant, and often mixed with large proportions of silver, but (as they informed us) it requires so much quicksilver in the amalgamation, and the labour of grinding it is so great, that the expense is more than the value of the silver extracted. A great many boys were employed in carrying up the ore, and assisting the elder miners in their operations : the ore is carried up in hide bags on the backs of the Indians and the labour seems very severe.

"After wandering underground for two hours and a half, we had enough of mining, and joyfully hailed the pure air and cool breeze of the surface. We then went to see the process of marking and weighing the silver, which is performed in a very rough manner; the bar we saw stamped was marked 819, being the number which had, up to that time, been extracted

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from the mine during the year. Each bar weighs generally about two hundred and thirty-nine marks, or one hundred and sixty pounds. From thence we went to see the process of amalgamation. After the ore has been ground (which is performed in the Boliches' or smaller works by men, and in the Haciendas' or larger works by water-mills) it is mixed with quicksilver and salt, and trodden together until it is perfectly amalgamated. The metal is then extracted by washing away the mud; and by the action of fire the pure silver is separated: it is then melted down and run into bars, when it is weighed, the value estimated, and the bar registered and numbered. When a mine is in operation, and more particularly when yielding very rich ore, or as it is called in Bolla,' the mouth is usually surrounded with cottages run up for the moment, and occupied by persons selling chicha, who purchase all the ore the miners can contrive to conceal when they come up out of the mine, and who await their arrival at the surface, where their different loads are deposited, and the labourer receives his proportion in a small bag or handkerchief, which he is at liberty to carry away and dispose of as he pleases. Reaching the top breathless and in a great perspiration, he is naturally thirsty, and these women immediately surround him with their liquor, for which he gives in exchange one or two handsful of ore. It is always considered a good sign when the mouth of a mine is thus surrounded; but it requires additional vigilance on the part of the proprietors to secure the ore and the due registration of the miners' accounts.

"A mine whilst working is necessarily watched every night, for the heaps of ore which have been extracted during the day, and are usually laid at the mouth of the mine, require a guard. Nearly all the cottages have stones for grinding the ore, so that the miners always find a ready sale for their stolen property. A good workman can obtain from his employer almost any wages he pleases, more especially if the mine he is employed in is in Bolla."-pp. 47-51.

The expedition proceeded to the city of Huanuco, which is situated in a beautiful valley on the eastern side of the great range of the Ganges, 74 leagues from Lima. Many difficulties were encountered, owing to the nature of the roads, in these regions. But the greatest disappointments arose from the desertion of the escorts, who were afraid of proceeding into a country said to be inhabited. by cannibals. Our travellers were, therefore, obliged to retrace their way for some distance, and to adopt a different course from that which was originally intended. Accordingly, they fell down the river Huallaga, travelling, by water and land, to the magnificent river Amazon, which they descended to Cochiquinas. They entered Brazil, and navigated the Purus to its mouth, and at last arrived at Para, after having been eight months and ten days occupied in journeying from Lima.

The inhabitants of Peru seem to be an extremely indolent people, while those farthest advanced in civilization, in the interior, are more than half barbaric.

"January 2nd.-The morning was fine, and we started at nine for Pachiza, which is a considerable town, about two leagues and a quarter up the

Huayabamba, on its right bank. We landed, and walked along a path leading through a grove of palms, whose branches meeting overhead produced the effect of a great aisle in a fine Gothic cathedral; and we reached Pachiza about noon: the canoe arrived about an hour after us. The town contains about six hundred inhabitants. The houses are scattered about without any regular order; but there is a church. The people we saw seemed to be excessively indolent; for though they wished for some of the trinkets which we had to dispose of, they were too idle to take the trouble of going to fetch what they had to give in exchange for them. Their countenances resembled those of the inhabitants of the upper parts of the Huallaga. The men wear a sort of cotton frock, and trowsers drawn tight round the waist, and a few beads, and cut their hair into a variety of forms. The women wear a large piece of blue cotton, sometimes only covering them from the waist downwards, sometimes from the neck, and as many beads as they can procure: they allow their hair to grow long, and ornament it with flowers. Neither sex wear any covering for the head or feet, but both stain their hands and feet blue with the fruit of a plant called huito, which they fancy prevents the itching caused by the bite of insects. We tried it, but cannot say we felt any good effects from it. The men are muscular and well formed, and their average height is from five feet seven to five feet eight. Their dialect is called Ibita, but a few of the men speak a little Spanish. Their mode of salutation is by kissing the back of the hand and embracing. They seemed very good humoured, and desirous of pleasing us, and were ready to give us any thing we wanted. The soil produces vanilla, sugar-cane, gums, balsam capivi, yucas, and pines. From the sugar-cane they make treacle and huarapo, and it is the only plant they bestow any cultivation on. Monkeys seem to be the principle article of their animal food, great numbers of which we saw hanging up dried in most of the houses; and they formed no inconsiderable portion of our food till we reached Sarayacu. We at first felt some repugnance to this diet, but habit and necessity got the better of it; and when accustomed to the meat, we found it by no means disagreeable."—pp. 139 -141.

Our travellers met with much kindness in their journey, from Indians, as well as those descended of a Spanish stock. The Indians, indeed, seemed sometimes to have a design upon their lives, by way of kindness, such as insisting upon them partaking largely, according to the native fashion, of their liquors. On other occasions, they loaded their canoes so deeply, as to threaten the whole passengers with a watery grave; for wives, children, dogs, and cats, were frequently crowded into the frail vessels, the canoe-men having no remedy but to move with the whole of their live domestic establishment.

The travellers had the highest recommendations to a Reverend Father, by name Padre Plaza, who is at the head of the mission of Sarayacu, who had spent thirty-four years in that territory, and with whose assistance they fondly hoped to be able to perform their originally contemplated purpose, viz. the discovery of the possibility of proceeding up the Pachitea, which, they were led to believe,

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